Railway hand brake mechanism



M 3 1940. E. E. VAN CLEAVE 2,201,656

RAILWAY HAND BRAKE MECHANISM Filed March 16, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 M' VZXM' y 1940- E. E. VAN CLEAVE 2,201,656

RAILWAY HAND BRAKE MECHANISM Filed March 16, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,Zzww.

y 1940- E. E. VAN CLEAVE RAILWAY HAND BRAKE MECHANISM Filed Mmn 16, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I fiverzz; V473 kafle,

I 1 I l l Patented May 21, 19405 UNITED STTES rim lE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to railway handwheel brakes and particularly to the application to brakes of the horizontal wheel type of safety features shown and described with reference to s the vertical wheel type in my copending applications Serial No. 147,827 filed June 12, 1937, and Serial No. 148,520 filed June 16, 1937.

For a great number of years a majority of hand brakes were of the horizontal wheel type with long vertical shaft which usually was very inefficient since a slight bulge or distortion in the car end might render the brake inoperative.

In recent years the horizontal wheel type has been largely supplanted by the vertical wheel because of its advantages in power and in certain safety features. These old horizontal wheel brakes require the use of two hands to operate and in addition an auxiliary means for holding and releasing the power.

The object of this invention is to provide a horizontal wheel brake with ultra safety features in that the brake is controlled entirely with the hand wheel. The operator always has both hands on the wheel and thus is in a secure position on r-the car. There is no danger of being thrown off the car because of back spin when releasing the load as it only is released by and in proportion to the reverse movement of the hand wheel and entirely at the will of the operator.

6 Further objects of this invention are to provide an improved form of unitary operating mechanism applicable to railway cars, wherein it is desired to have the handwheel mounted on a vertical shaft extending above the roof of the car in 'l'convenient position to be operated by a man standing on the brake platform of the car; to provide a mechanism of this kind equipped with safety devices that will preclude any injury to the operator by forceful spinning of the hand- :wheel; to provide an improved mechanism of this kind which can be readily taken apart for inspection of all of its parts with a minimum of operations, and with a minimum of disturbance of the operative relationship of such parts; and to provide an improved form of operating mechanism which is self-locking to the extent of enabling the safe regulation of the speed of brake release under the control of the handwheel without danger to the operator.

Two specific embodiments of this invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a fragmentary end elevation of a railway box car equipped with the improved brake mechanism.

(Cl. 'M-505) Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the winding drum and its operating mechanism taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the same partly broken away and with some of the parts in sec- 5 tion on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section corresponding to Figure 3 but with a modified form of housing. 10 I ed with respect to the ladder 6. 20

The brake rigging may be of any usual form and-is connected by a chain to .a bell-crank 1 pivoted at 8 in a bracket 9 attached to the end sill of the car body. One arm of the bell-crank i is connected by a link it and chain H to a 25 winding drum l2 journaled in bearings l3 and M on a horizontal axis in the body portion of the housing comprising front and back members I5 and it respectively, secured together by the bolts it and fastened as a unit to the car wall 30- by bolts I'M.

A large bevel gear i8 is fast on and preferably integral with the Winding drum l2 and the upper end link of the chain it is attached to the drum by means of the pin 59 extending be- 35-.

tween a boss 26 on the gear and arm 2| on the drum. The pin it is held in place by a cotter 22.

The operating mechanism for rotating the gear l8 comprises a pinion 23 appropriately beveled and out to mesh with the teeth on the gear I8 40 i and fast on a stud shaft 2 3. The lower end of the stud shaft 2 8 is journaled in a ball bearing 25 mounted in a bracket shelf 26 which is preferably integral with the front member I5 of the housing. 45

The stud shaft 24 has loosely mounted thereon, above the pinion 23, a ratchet wheel 27 which, in the form shown, has an integral sleeve 28 within which the stud shaft 24 is journaled and which in turn is journaled in a collar 29 formed 50 on a removable cover member or cap 30 which forms part of the housing and cooperates with the housing member 55 to protect the mechanism from the weather. The pinion 23 and ratchet wheel 21 are provided with opposed clutch faces 55 3| and 32 between which is mounted a friction disc 33.

The brake wheel shaft 3 is preferably square in section and is provided with an extension member 34 which is socketed in its upper portion to receive the shaft 3, the two being secured together by means of a bolt 35. The lower part of the extension 34 is in the form of a sleeve 36 which is internally threaded to mesh with the threaded end portion 31 of the stud shaft 24. These threads are heavy and of comparatively long pitch, cut right-handed so that clockwise rotation of the handwheel will pull the sleeve 36 downwardly along the stud shaft and through contact with the sleeve 28, on the ratchet wheel, force the ratchet wheel toward the pinion to cause the friction clutch to engage and lock the ratchet wheel to the pinion. The ratchet wheel cooperates with a pawl 38 pivoted on the cover member 30 at 39 so that the ratchet wheel may turn only in a clockwise direction.

Reverse rotation of the handwheel, that is to say rotation in a counter-clockwise direction, will cause the sleeve 36 to travel upwardly on the stud shaft, due to the threaded or spiral connection between the two, and reduce the clutching pressure until the ratchet wheel is completely freed from its clutching connection with the pinion when the shoulder 40 on the ratchet wheel engages the shoulder M on the collar 29. The upper end of the stud shaft 24 is provided with a reduced portion 42 which extends through a web 4-3 and is fitted with a nut 44 locked by a pin 45 which limits the upward movement of the sleeve 36 with respect to the stud shaft 24.

The housing cap 30 is mounted on the front housing member l5 by stud bolts 46, extending through appropriately located ears and bosses on those parts, in such manner that all of the operating mechanism from the pinion 23 upward can be lifted out of the housing as a unit with the cover plate 30; thus enabling all of the parts to be inspected with a minimum of dismantling of the structure.

In the form shown in Figure 5, the mechanical arrangements are the same but the cover plate 30.! is formed so as to telescope with a cylindrical portion 47 at the upper end of the housing member 15.! so that the pinion and its associate mechanism can be withdrawn directly upwardly. In this form the cover plate is fastened by stud bolts 48 which screw into lugs 49.

The operation of the device shown is as follows:

When the brake wheel is turned in clockwise rotation, the sleeve 36 is drawn down by its spiral connection with the stud shaft 24 to force the ratchet wheel 21 into firm clutching engagement with the pinion 23 and with the application of sufficient force to the handwheel, the pinion and ratchet will rotate and turn the drum so as to wind up the chain H and apply the brakes. The pawl 38 allows the ratchet wheel 21 to turn only in a clockwise direction. When the handwheel is turned in a counter-clockwise direction, the clutching engagement between the ratchet wheel 21 and pinion 23 will be gradually released and the pinion 23 will turn at whatever speed is permitted by the counter-clockwise rotation of the handwheel.

Any resistance applied to the rotation of the handwheel will cause the spiral connection or thread 31 to draw down the sleeve 36 and stop further rotation. If the operator rotates the handwheel counter-clockwise with sufiicient speed, he can remove all resistance to rotation of the pinion 23. Thus the release of the brakes is at all times under the control of the operator without any possibility of its transmitting to the handwheel a spinning movement that might result in injury to the operator.

I claim:

1. In a railway hand brake, a vertical shaft for a handwheel, a winding drum and gear, and an operating mechanism for said gear, comprising an extension coupled to said shaft, a pinion, a stud shaft having driving relation to said pinion, a ratchet loose on said stud shaft, and a friction clutch connection between said ratchet and pinion, said extension and stud shaft having intermeshing helical surfaces for engaging and disengaging said clutch connection through relative rotation of said extension and stud shaft.

2. In a railway hand brake, a vertical shaft for a handwheel, a winding drum and gear, and an operating mechanism for said gear, comprising an extension coupled to said shaft, a pinion, a stud shaft having driving relation to said pinion, a ratchet loose on said stud shaft, and a friction clutch connection between said ratchet and pinion, said extension and stud shaft having intermeshing helical surfaces for engaging and disengaging said clutch connection through relative rotation of said extension and stud shaft, and a housing having a removable member carrying said operating mechanism as a unitary structure.

3. In an apparatus for manually operating railway car brakes the combination of a horizontal hand wheel on a vertical shaft, a stud shaft in alignment with said hand wheel shaft and having a brake operating pinion thereon, an extension on the hand wheel shaft forming a coupling with the stud shaft, a ratchet loose on the stud shaft, a pawl engaging the ratchet, a friction clutch for connecting and disconnecting the ratchet with the stud shaft, and means for causing the clutch to become effective or ineffective dependent upon direction of rotation of said stud shaft.

EDWIN E. VAN CLEAVE. 

